[Blindmath] AFB Teleseminar Dec 2nd on How will students withVision Loss Fare in Common Core Assessments
Amanda Lacy
lacy925 at gmail.com
Mon Nov 25 15:05:40 UTC 2013
I read my tests in Braille. Do they not make Braille assessments anymore?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Woodyard" <marywoodyard at comcast.net>
To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 7:03 AM
Subject: [Blindmath] AFB Teleseminar Dec 2nd on How will students withVision
Loss Fare in Common Core Assessments
>I am going to refrain from commenting on all of the unfair testing
>questions
> I have noticed with respect to testing my child and just let anyone
> reading
> this list know that the AFB has a teleseminar Dec 2nd to discuss testing
> issues with Common Core for Students with vision loss. The trend that I
> have already noticed is that educators are trying to push all students
> with
> readers to use screen readers instead of human readers which is limiting
> with Math and Science. There are several main problems I have discovered.
> One - the screen reader is Kurzweil - not really a screen reader. The
> reason this is done is so that the testing authorities can limit what
> information is read to the student.
>
> That limiting of information is critical to the problem that all low
> vision/blind students face - how does someone sighted decide what my
> student
> who has several eye conditions that fluctuate can see at any given time.
> Also, he prefers a human reader so why should he be forced to use a
> machine
> that has proved unreliable on other high stakes tests? At the moment all
> of
> the testing decisions that are made with respect to limits are done on a
> state by state basis - the benefit of Common Core is that it allows a
> central recommendation for 45 states. We just need to make sure that our
> voices are heard while that limit is being made.
>
> I would encourage anyone who is interested in testing low vision/blind
> students in k-12 to listen to this teleseminar.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> blindmath-request at nfbnet.org
> Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 7:00 AM
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Blindmath Digest, Vol 88, Issue 19
>
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>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Understanding math versus passing standardized tests of
> math (Lewicki, Maureen)
> 2. Re: Understanding math versus passing standardized tests of
> math (sabra1023)
> 3. Re: An issue with JAWS and Wolfram Alpha -- how canthisbe
> resolved? (Wheatley, Richard)
> 4. When accommodation is meaningless (Susan Jolly)
> 5. Re: When accommodation is meaningless (Amanda Lacy)
> 6. Re: Understanding math versus passing standardized tests of
> math (Lewicki, Maureen)
> 7. Re: Understanding math versus passing standardized tests of
> math (Bente Casile)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 15:10:13 +0000
> From: "Lewicki, Maureen" <mlewicki at bcsd.neric.org>
> To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
> standardized tests of math
> Message-ID:
> <AD0247C3A039BA4B87F37DD2B02CCCEF12429227 at HEX2.mail.neric.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I agree, Susan about this: " a growing disconnect between
>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to be
>> useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests."
> Essentially we can 'thank' the developers of Common Core for the
> disconnect!
>
> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
> Teacher of Visually Impaired
> Bethlehem Central School
> 332 Kenwood AvenueDelmar, NY 12054
> http://bethlehemschools.org
> (518) 439-7460
> Fax (518) 475-0092
> "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
> problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists. If a
> blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be
> reduced to a mere physical nuisance."Kenneth Jernigan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David
> Tseng
> Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 6:01 PM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing standardized
> tests of math
>
> I agree with you on your general point that there's issues in the way
> blind
> students are taught math today.
>
> Teachers and VI specialists take on the task of creative ways to represent
> information to a blind student if the student is lucky. However, the
> quality
> of this "creativity" varies wildly amongst educators. You get even more
> variation when you get to university where professors can have all sorts
> of
> competing priorities and demands on their time.
>
> With that said, to address your specific point, I firmly believe
> visualization is quite important when dealing with math. Many concepts
> (i.e.
> the derivative), have an intuitive definition only obtained by visual
> means.
> Graphing functions is another way to understand relationships between two
> sets of numbers (or three in the case of three variables, and so on).
>
> The challenge lies in the way blind students should be taught and tested.
> It doesn't change the usefulness of picturing a graph. Going through the
> steps of plotting helps reinforce the aspects of functions that can seem
> "abstract" when only staring at an equation.
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 12:48 PM, Susan Jolly
> <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> I'm commenting as a "sightling."
>>
>> I'm retired from a successful career involving applied math and
>> computational math. I started out as a high school chemistry teacher
>> and then went to graduate school to get a degree in computational
>> (theoretical) chemistry. I can't ever remember having to plot by hand
>> a function of two variables either as a student or in my career and
>> I've had very little need to even interpret a plane projection of a
>> such a function. I do not consider this an important general "math
>> skill". It is, rather, something someone can learn when necessary.
>>
>> From the latest discussion on this list and also from reading about
>> math education it seems to me there is a growing disconnect between
>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to be
>> useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests.
>> Questions based on visual representations are clearly unfair to
>> students who are blind or have various visual impairments but they may
>> also be unfair to sighted students if they obscure the students' lack of
> real understanding.
>>
>> The CAST organization has a number of US government supported research
>> programs aimed at Universal Design for Learning. They have not to my
>> knowledge addressed the problem of testing. Here is a link to their
>> website if you want to read more about UDL and/or contact them.
>>
>> http://www.cast.org/index.html
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> SusanJ
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>>
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/davidct1209%40g
>> mail.com
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
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> .org
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 10:01:25 -0600
> From: sabra1023 <sabra1023 at gmail.com>
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
> standardized tests of math
> Message-ID: <54AA0954-35E1-4577-BB7B-38C053ECC6D0 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Even on the standardized test, it's not fair for a blind person to have to
> interpret 2-D representation of a 3-D object when that entire
> representation
> is based on a lifelong visual perception. I don't like those tests much,
> but
> their makers care about whether they're biased toward all manner of
> minority
> group, but apparently don't care if they're fair for blind people.
>
>> On Nov 24, 2013, at 9:10 AM, "Lewicki, Maureen" <mlewicki at bcsd.neric.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> I agree, Susan about this: " a growing disconnect between
>>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to be
>>> useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests."
> Essentially we can 'thank' the developers of Common Core for the
> disconnect!
>>
>> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
>> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
>> Teacher of Visually Impaired
>> Bethlehem Central School
>> 332 Kenwood AvenueDelmar, NY 12054
>> http://bethlehemschools.org
>> (518) 439-7460
>> Fax (518) 475-0092
>> "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
>> problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists. If
>> a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can
>> be reduced to a mere physical nuisance."Kenneth Jernigan
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> David Tseng
>> Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 6:01 PM
>> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
>> standardized tests of math
>>
>> I agree with you on your general point that there's issues in the way
> blind students are taught math today.
>>
>> Teachers and VI specialists take on the task of creative ways to
>> represent
> information to a blind student if the student is lucky. However, the
> quality
> of this "creativity" varies wildly amongst educators. You get even more
> variation when you get to university where professors can have all sorts
> of
> competing priorities and demands on their time.
>>
>> With that said, to address your specific point, I firmly believe
> visualization is quite important when dealing with math. Many concepts
> (i.e.
> the derivative), have an intuitive definition only obtained by visual
> means.
>> Graphing functions is another way to understand relationships between two
> sets of numbers (or three in the case of three variables, and so on).
>>
>> The challenge lies in the way blind students should be taught and tested.
>> It doesn't change the usefulness of picturing a graph. Going through the
> steps of plotting helps reinforce the aspects of functions that can seem
> "abstract" when only staring at an equation.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 12:48 PM, Susan Jolly
> <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I'm commenting as a "sightling."
>>>
>>> I'm retired from a successful career involving applied math and
>>> computational math. I started out as a high school chemistry teacher
>>> and then went to graduate school to get a degree in computational
>>> (theoretical) chemistry. I can't ever remember having to plot by
>>> hand a function of two variables either as a student or in my career
>>> and I've had very little need to even interpret a plane projection of
>>> a such a function. I do not consider this an important general "math
>>> skill". It is, rather, something someone can learn when necessary.
>>>
>>> From the latest discussion on this list and also from reading about
>>> math education it seems to me there is a growing disconnect between
>>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to be
>>> useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests.
>>> Questions based on visual representations are clearly unfair to
>>> students who are blind or have various visual impairments but they
>>> may also be unfair to sighted students if they obscure the students'
>>> lack
> of real understanding.
>>>
>>> The CAST organization has a number of US government supported
>>> research programs aimed at Universal Design for Learning. They have
>>> not to my knowledge addressed the problem of testing. Here is a link
>>> to their website if you want to read more about UDL and/or contact them.
>>>
>>> http://www.cast.org/index.html
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>> SusanJ
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Blindmath mailing list
>>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> Blindmath:
>>>
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/davidct1209%40
>>> g
>>> mail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/mlewicki%40bcsd
>> .neric.org
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/sabra1023%40gma
>> il.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 19:04:15 +0000
> From: "Wheatley, Richard" <r.wheatley2 at lancaster.ac.uk>
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] An issue with JAWS and Wolfram Alpha -- how
> canthisbe resolved?
> Message-ID:
>
> <85C2956260657F48A7323F5433C66D8E03832F at AM2PRD0411MB411.eurprd04.prod.outloo
> k.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Have you tried m.wolframalpha, I have just been introduced to wolframalpha
> recently and couldn't make it work, and some -one told me about this chat
> room and here's where I found out about the mobile version, I haven't
> tested
> it as much as I should have but from what work I have got round to with
> it,
> it works.
> Cheers
> Richard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Petr
> Par?zek
> Sent: 24 November 2013 11:30
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] An issue with JAWS and Wolfram Alpha -- how
> canthisbe resolved?
>
> I wrote:
>
>> Sadly, I'm only able to read the desired solutions in IE and not in
>> other browsers.
>
> To be more precise, I'm only able to click the links to the solutions in
> IE
> and not in other browsers.
>
> Petr
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/r.wheatley2%40lancast
> er.ac.uk
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 09:44:31 -1000
> From: Susan Jolly <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Blindmath] When accommodation is meaningless
> Message-ID: <199AAC77-D1E4-4AEF-AA2C-25695B86101B at ix.netcom.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Thanks so much to the commenter who pointed out the unfairness of testing
> blind students on perspective drawings. This is a very serious
> unfairness.
>
> I've been trying to read the latest research on test accommodations. The
> fancy language is that the goal is to minimize construct-irrelevant
> demands.
> The construct is what you are actually trying to test for. An example of
> a
> construct is knowing the capital of Texas. A construct-irrelevant demand
> would be having to read the question in print. That is, using speech or
> braille or some other means to ask the question of students who can't read
> print is an example of avoiding the irrelevant demand.
>
> http://padi-se.sri.com/publications.html
>
> I am now beginning to appreciate that there are constructs that are being
> tested for where the problem is that there is NO possible accommodation
> for
> persons with certain disabilities. This is because the nature of the
> disability is such that it is intrinsically impossible (or unreasonably
> difficult) for the person to deal with the construct. It is sad that this
> problem hasn't already been addressed and can lead to unnecessarily
> discouraging competent persons. I plan to try to explain this in more
> detail and then write to the reseachers in hopes of getting them to
> address
> it.
>
> Sincerely,
> SusanJ
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 14:36:21 -0600
> From: "Amanda Lacy" <lacy925 at gmail.com>
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] When accommodation is meaningless
> Message-ID: <95B94C74662748DCB9AE118EC3F27560 at DD4DJCK1>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> There were times when I couldn't understand what I was being tested for.
> One
> incident from more than ten years ago sticks in my mind. The question
> simply
> read, "where is the water?" Underneath were choices A through D, each one
> being a small set of irregular lines. In cases like that my Braille
> teacher
> told me just to guess an answer. Someone later suggested to me that the
> choices might have been small sections of maps, but every tactile map I'd
> ever been exposed to had a key and/or Braille labels so I could identify
> things like water. These shapes were not labeled. So, what are testers
> looking for in situations like that? I thought the basics were things like
> math and reading comprehension.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Susan Jolly" <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>
> To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 1:44 PM
> Subject: [Blindmath] When accommodation is meaningless
>
>
>> Thanks so much to the commenter who pointed out the unfairness of
>> testing blind students on perspective drawings. This is a very
>> serious unfairness.
>>
>> I've been trying to read the latest research on test accommodations.
>> The fancy language is that the goal is to minimize
>> construct-irrelevant demands. The construct is what you are actually
>> trying to test for. An example of a construct is knowing the capital
>> of Texas. A construct-irrelevant demand would be having to read the
> question in print.
>> That is, using speech or braille or some other means to ask the
>> question of students who can't read print is an example of avoiding
>> the irrelevant demand.
>>
>> http://padi-se.sri.com/publications.html
>>
>> I am now beginning to appreciate that there are constructs that are
>> being tested for where the problem is that there is NO possible
>> accommodation for persons with certain disabilities. This is because
>> the nature of the disability is such that it is intrinsically
>> impossible (or unreasonably
>> difficult) for the person to deal with the construct. It is sad that
>> this problem hasn't already been addressed and can lead to
>> unnecessarily discouraging competent persons. I plan to try to
>> explain this in more detail and then write to the reseachers in hopes
>> of getting them to address it.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> SusanJ
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/lacy925%40gmail
>> .com
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 22:00:39 +0000
> From: "Lewicki, Maureen" <mlewicki at bcsd.neric.org>
> To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
> standardized tests of math
> Message-ID:
> <AD0247C3A039BA4B87F37DD2B02CCCEF12429363 at HEX2.mail.neric.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> In the better designed tests which have been put into braille, the
> transcriber has the 3 d cube drawn but below the diagram of that is the
> cube
> in six sections...that made so much sense to my students...that is how
> they
> are given in NYS exams anyway..
>
> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
> Teacher of Visually Impaired
> Bethlehem Central School
> 332 Kenwood AvenueDelmar, NY 12054
> http://bethlehemschools.org
> (518) 439-7460
> Fax (518) 475-0092
> "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
> problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists. If a
> blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be
> reduced to a mere physical nuisance."Kenneth Jernigan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> sabra1023
> Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 11:01 AM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Cc: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing standardized
> tests of math
>
> Even on the standardized test, it's not fair for a blind person to have to
> interpret 2-D representation of a 3-D object when that entire
> representation
> is based on a lifelong visual perception. I don't like those tests much,
> but
> their makers care about whether they're biased toward all manner of
> minority
> group, but apparently don't care if they're fair for blind people.
>
>> On Nov 24, 2013, at 9:10 AM, "Lewicki, Maureen" <mlewicki at bcsd.neric.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> I agree, Susan about this: " a growing disconnect between
>>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to be
>>> useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests."
> Essentially we can 'thank' the developers of Common Core for the
> disconnect!
>>
>> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
>> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
>> Teacher of Visually Impaired
>> Bethlehem Central School
>> 332 Kenwood AvenueDelmar, NY 12054
>> http://bethlehemschools.org
>> (518) 439-7460
>> Fax (518) 475-0092
>> "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
>> problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists. If
>> a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can
>> be reduced to a mere physical nuisance."Kenneth Jernigan
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> David Tseng
>> Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 6:01 PM
>> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
>> standardized tests of math
>>
>> I agree with you on your general point that there's issues in the way
> blind students are taught math today.
>>
>> Teachers and VI specialists take on the task of creative ways to
>> represent
> information to a blind student if the student is lucky. However, the
> quality
> of this "creativity" varies wildly amongst educators. You get even more
> variation when you get to university where professors can have all sorts
> of
> competing priorities and demands on their time.
>>
>> With that said, to address your specific point, I firmly believe
> visualization is quite important when dealing with math. Many concepts
> (i.e.
> the derivative), have an intuitive definition only obtained by visual
> means.
>> Graphing functions is another way to understand relationships between two
> sets of numbers (or three in the case of three variables, and so on).
>>
>> The challenge lies in the way blind students should be taught and tested.
>> It doesn't change the usefulness of picturing a graph. Going through the
> steps of plotting helps reinforce the aspects of functions that can seem
> "abstract" when only staring at an equation.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 12:48 PM, Susan Jolly
> <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I'm commenting as a "sightling."
>>>
>>> I'm retired from a successful career involving applied math and
>>> computational math. I started out as a high school chemistry teacher
>>> and then went to graduate school to get a degree in computational
>>> (theoretical) chemistry. I can't ever remember having to plot by
>>> hand a function of two variables either as a student or in my career
>>> and I've had very little need to even interpret a plane projection of
>>> a such a function. I do not consider this an important general "math
>>> skill". It is, rather, something someone can learn when necessary.
>>>
>>> From the latest discussion on this list and also from reading about
>>> math education it seems to me there is a growing disconnect between
>>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to be
>>> useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests.
>>> Questions based on visual representations are clearly unfair to
>>> students who are blind or have various visual impairments but they
>>> may also be unfair to sighted students if they obscure the students'
>>> lack
> of real understanding.
>>>
>>> The CAST organization has a number of US government supported
>>> research programs aimed at Universal Design for Learning. They have
>>> not to my knowledge addressed the problem of testing. Here is a link
>>> to their website if you want to read more about UDL and/or contact them.
>>>
>>> http://www.cast.org/index.html
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>> SusanJ
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Blindmath mailing list
>>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> Blindmath:
>>>
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/davidct1209%40
>>> g
>>> mail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/mlewicki%40bcsd
>> .neric.org
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/sabra1023%40gma
>> il.com
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:46:11 -0500
> From: Bente Casile <bente at casilenc.com>
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
> standardized tests of math
> Message-ID: <9CD536FD-7775-4842-855B-135C6A519FEC at casilenc.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> While I agree that there are many misperceptions and problems with the
> system, I would like to suggest that we try to look forward in a proactive
> way, to work together to develop possible solutions. For those of you who
> are blind or low vision please share with us who are sighted and who are
> educators. What's works for you? What doesn't work? Did you have
> teachers
> who came up with creative ideas or solutions? Amanda Lacy, I would love
> to
> know more about your 3D shapes for Calc III. I would love to see us grow
> a
> database of best practices so that future students and teachers and
> parents
> can benefit. Just my two cents.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Bente J. Casile
>
>
>> On Nov 24, 2013, at 11:01 AM, sabra1023 <sabra1023 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Even on the standardized test, it's not fair for a blind person to have
>> to
> interpret 2-D representation of a 3-D object when that entire
> representation
> is based on a lifelong visual perception. I don't like those tests much,
> but
> their makers care about whether they're biased toward all manner of
> minority
> group, but apparently don't care if they're fair for blind people.
>>
>>> On Nov 24, 2013, at 9:10 AM, "Lewicki, Maureen"
>>> <mlewicki at bcsd.neric.org>
> wrote:
>>>
>>> I agree, Susan about this: " a growing disconnect between
>>>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to
>>>> be useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests."
> Essentially we can 'thank' the developers of Common Core for the
> disconnect!
>>>
>>> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
>>> Maureen Murphy Lewicki
>>> Teacher of Visually Impaired
>>> Bethlehem Central School
>>> 332 Kenwood AvenueDelmar, NY 12054
>>> http://bethlehemschools.org
>>> (518) 439-7460
>>> Fax (518) 475-0092
>>> "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
>>> problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists.
>>> If a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness
>>> can be reduced to a mere physical nuisance."Kenneth Jernigan
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>>> David Tseng
>>> Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 6:01 PM
>>> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
>>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Understanding math versus passing
>>> standardized tests of math
>>>
>>> I agree with you on your general point that there's issues in the way
> blind students are taught math today.
>>>
>>> Teachers and VI specialists take on the task of creative ways to
> represent information to a blind student if the student is lucky. However,
> the quality of this "creativity" varies wildly amongst educators. You get
> even more variation when you get to university where professors can have
> all
> sorts of competing priorities and demands on their time.
>>>
>>> With that said, to address your specific point, I firmly believe
> visualization is quite important when dealing with math. Many concepts
> (i.e.
> the derivative), have an intuitive definition only obtained by visual
> means.
>>> Graphing functions is another way to understand relationships between
>>> two
> sets of numbers (or three in the case of three variables, and so on).
>>>
>>> The challenge lies in the way blind students should be taught and
>>> tested.
>>> It doesn't change the usefulness of picturing a graph. Going through the
> steps of plotting helps reinforce the aspects of functions that can seem
> "abstract" when only staring at an equation.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 12:48 PM, Susan Jolly
> <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm commenting as a "sightling."
>>>>
>>>> I'm retired from a successful career involving applied math and
>>>> computational math. I started out as a high school chemistry
>>>> teacher and then went to graduate school to get a degree in
>>>> computational
>>>> (theoretical) chemistry. I can't ever remember having to plot by
>>>> hand a function of two variables either as a student or in my career
>>>> and I've had very little need to even interpret a plane projection
>>>> of a such a function. I do not consider this an important general
>>>> "math skill". It is, rather, something someone can learn when
> necessary.
>>>>
>>>> From the latest discussion on this list and also from reading about
>>>> math education it seems to me there is a growing disconnect between
>>>> the math knowledge and understanding that is likely to turn out to
>>>> be useful and the math questions that show up on standardized tests.
>>>> Questions based on visual representations are clearly unfair to
>>>> students who are blind or have various visual impairments but they
>>>> may also be unfair to sighted students if they obscure the students'
> lack of real understanding.
>>>>
>>>> The CAST organization has a number of US government supported
>>>> research programs aimed at Universal Design for Learning. They have
>>>> not to my knowledge addressed the problem of testing. Here is a
>>>> link to their website if you want to read more about UDL and/or contact
> them.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.cast.org/index.html
>>>>
>>>> Best wishes,
>>>> SusanJ
>>>>
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>>>> for
>>>> Blindmath:
>>>>
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/davidct1209%4
>>>> 0g
>>>> mail.com
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>>
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